this the touchstone of his truth, when he asked: “But you, because I speak the truth, you do not believe me; who among you can accuse me of a sin?” Yes, and this is precisely what the children of these times cannot bear in the Gospel, that it connects the truth in things divine so closely with sanctification that such healthy reason is supposed to exist only where there is the proper pull of the heart to God. They only want to study, not pray; they only want the education of reason, not the sanctification of the heart. But just as in Christ the sacred heart is the eye with which He beholds God, the entire New Testament attests with our text: only through a godly life does man become aware of God, only through the purification of the heart does the eye of our soul become pure and clear!
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[Chapter] IXX. When is greater civic freedom fortunate for a people?
Beloved in the Lord! At the end of the half-year that has just passed we experienced a sudden change of things, after which everyone saw everyone else and every relationship with different eyes. We, too, have not seen each other again in this place since those fateful days; and we, too, see each other again with different eyes in more than one respect. First we theologians. The slogan of freedom has invaded the church from the popular assemblies, with a sound that reminds us in many people far too much of this: “He shall not rule over us!” In view of what the church will be facing shortly, we see each other again in a more elevated mood, I should say – the way friends feel who meet before a day of intense battle. You academic citizens, especially, have also entered upon a new career. The small word ‘freedom,’ which already sends a shudder through young academic hearts with such magical power, resounds with a redoubled echo from bourgeois circles over into academic ones. Your entire academic life is seeking to move with freer vibrations. But let us all remember now where we stand. We stand here at the sacred site where all human slogans must be measured on a scale that never errs. It thus behooves us above all else to weigh and measure the ambiguous word ‘freedom.’ If I do not commend you, praise you as happy today, it is intentional, even though hopes may awaken at least with a view to the distant future. But in these days too much honey is handed out everywhere – should not the pulpit, of all places, add divine salt to the honey? Remember, then, that this is the place to put ourselves and our slogan of liberty today under God’s word as our judge.
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